Fears
by Xerxies19
Summary: While inside the Tower of Guidance, Kyza learns that Ranulf has a fear of heights. When Kyza is badly injured, Ranulf learns that sometimes one fear can cancel out another. Spoiler if you haven't played Dawn all the way through twice. KyzaRanulf


-1 Kyza glanced back for the ninth time since they began climbing the stairs from the first stage of the Tower of Guidance. Ranulf's eyes darted ever so slightly to the large drop on either side of the dilapidated stone. His ears were tipped back warily, meaning something had him on edge. The tiger planned on asking him what was bothering him once they got to the next platform.

Unfortunately he didn't have a chance as the battle with the Black Knight ensued almost immediately. Kyza sighed and transformed alongside the blue cat once the battle had commenced, attacking the warriors on the their left. Watching the compact feline, he noticed that now that they were on solid ground Ranulf was his normal self. The battle ended in mere moments. The army on their side of the blue curtain of magic was decimated, the sentinel that commanded them lying dead. The Black Knight fell to Ike, the Vanguard's speed and strength dispatching him with relative ease.

As they left Kyza saw Ike hand Alondite to Mist, since the Valkyrie was the only sword wielder with them skilled enough to use the blade, but she opted to use it only for ranged attacks, since the Vague Katti she borrowed from Stefan was lighter and more powerful. He glanced around as they started up another staircase, finally spotting Ranulf chatting with Tibarn. He purred slightly and took the stairs two at a time to catch up.

"Oh, Kyza! Nice job back there," the cat greeted him with a charming smile.

The silver-haired laguz perked up visably at his praise. Tibarn, Reyson and Naesala had fallen back for the sake of appearing to give them privacy even if the birds could hear everything they said.

"Thank you sir! You were in fine form in the battle as well. But, might I ask what's been bothering you?"

Ranulf's tail drooped a bit and his subordinate noticed his purple and aqua eyes pointedly avoided looking at the dropoff on either side of them.

"What do you mean?"

"You're antsy and agitated when we're climbing the stairs. I noticed before the last battle, and again you're exhibiting the same behavior."

"Promise not the make fun of me?"

The powerful laguz was taken aback, surprised his commander would even think he'd tease him over whatever was wrong.

"Of course not, sir!"

The lithe cat sighed, "I'm afraid of heights."

The generally graceful tiger tripped on a stair and would have fallen on his face had his companion not caught him and put him back on his feet in one fluid motion. That the second-in-command to the future king was afraid of anything shocked him deeply.

"Then why didn't you have trouble in the pass?" He inquired, referencing their earlier battle to retrieve Skrimir when he'd gone to duel Zelgius.

"It wasn't really that high, and it wasn't a sheer drop. If I fell, I'd survive with minor injuries. Here, I'd be dead the instant I hit the ground, whenever that happened."

He had a point, though it might present a problem if they had to fight on another stage without a complete floor like the first one. Kyza suddenly realized that Ranulf had been jumpy then too, and stuck to the middle of the stage instead of the outer parts.

"Don't worry sir, I'll never let you fall," he answered quickly, entirely aware of what he was saying.

He caught the cute blush that spread across the feline's face before he turned to face forward again, ruffling his spiky aqua hair. He only did that when he was embarrassed.

"Thanks, Kyza," he returned, his voice a little shaky.

The tiger brightened, his companion finally seemed to be warming up to his displays of affection. Kyza was, of course, entirely in love with his superior, but Ranulf had always seemed completely oblivious. He had flatout told Lyre he didn't like her as anything more than a friend when she had tried to kiss him a little while after their spat over his gift. She'd come up to Kyza after she'd stopped crying and told him that if she couldn't have Ranulf's heart, than he'd better be the one to win it. She had decided he was the only other person worthy of the blue cat's love, so in some strange way, she now supported him in his single-minded pursuit of the attractive man. It was actually quite funny.

He was pulled from his musings when Yune pulled them together and gave them her blessing before they went through the door. While many of them were astounded by the sheer number and power of the Goldoans, the Goddess of Chaos's blessing filled them with confidence that they could win this battle. Except for one. Ranulf was looking at the holes in the room's floor, and how small the existing floor was width-wise. He was terrified he'd have to fight the massive dragons on the small areas branching to either side of the main stage leading up to Dheginsea. He could only imagine how easy it would be to fall off the edge during one of his acrobatic attacks.

Tibarn noticed, and having heard the two Gallian's conversation, he mentioned Ranulf's discomfort to Soren. The Archsage nodded and adjusted his battle strategy in his head. He ordered Ranulf to take the middle, which except for one spot had a lot more area to move around in, while Kyza would have to take the left to even the numbers out. Mist, Pelleas, Sothe and Tormod would accompany him.

The divinely-blessed company plowed through the slower dragons easily until the left side of the three-pronged attack formation began to falter. They were getting hit by the more accurate white dragons' magic blasts. Kyza and Sothe were taking the heaviest hits, some of them managing to score a hit even though they probably should have missed, proving that the enemy army still had luck on their side.

Tormod was busy healing every scratch Sothe had gotten and Mist healed Kyza while they fought back. Kyza's low resistance wasn't helping any, nor was the arrival of two more whites. Mist and the two mages were too caught up trying to take the increasing number of whites down to heal the light purple feline after he took two powerful hits from the ice dragons, who were using their range to avoid counter. Soren and Micaiah were busy as well, meaning he was on his own.

He panted, blood flowing from the dual wounds on his flanks, knowing he couldn't flee or he'd leave a weakened Sothe out in the open. He tore down one of the two laguz, narrowly dodging its counterattack. His movements widened the injuries and his legs gave out from under him. He looked at the remaining dragon, unable to move. He wouldn't be able to move fast enough to get out of the way of the white's next attack, nor was there anyone who could either heal him or kill it. He closed his eyes in defeat, certain he was going to die.

Soren swore, looking at the left group. Ranulf followed his gaze and saw his subordinate collapse in a pool of his own blood. A white dragon loomed over him, gathering its energy. It would attack within minutes and the silver-maned laguz would never be able to avoid it.

There weren't any units that were close enough to the dragon or him to save him, save the cat. His eyes narrowed to slits, he took off in the tiger's direction, skirting corners and the edges of the stage narrowly. He growled and jumped at the white, his claws ripping it to shreds, propelled by his fury. He jumped back as it toppled over, bloody claws sliding and placing him dangerously close to the edge. Feeling no need to stay in his cat form, he shifted back, trotting over to where Kyza lay. The tiger also shifted, not having enough energy to stay transformed. Tormod knelt next to the injured laguz and healed him, stepping back to make sure the wounds were completely closed before running to Sothe so Ranulf could talk to Kyza alone.

"Hey," the cat began softly, a bit out of breath.

The tiger sat up wearily, "Thank you sir, if not for you, I would have died. But, how did you manage to get over your fear of heights? I thought being near the dropoff made you nervous."

"Huh, I didn't even notice. Well, I have two major fears actually. The only thing I'm more afraid of than heights...is losing you," he whispered.

He was kneeling now, and before the tiger could completely process the meaning of this, Ranulf leaned forward and kissed him. As much as he'd tried to deny it all this time, he loved the lavender tiger. He broke the kiss and smiled like he'd just eaten the canary.

"I love you too, Kyza."

The larger laguz embraced him headily, pulling the cat into his lap. "I think you've just made me the happiest man in the world, sir."

"I could say the same," Ranulf returned honestly.


End file.
